With the new high precision treatment accelerator
by Laura LaRocca
24 February 2022 - At the UOC of Oncological Radiotherapy of the Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital the treatment of all tumor pathologies is performed with advanced technologies which reduce the side effects of the treatments and promote an increasingly effective integration with surgery and systemic treatments. All this is made possible today thanks to the introduction of the new True Beam linear accelerator, designed to perform image-guided radiation therapy treatments to target tumors anywhere in the body with precision. The accelerator is equipped with the Vision RT technology, a complex system made up of video cameras placed inside the bunker, which makes it possible to monitor the skin surface and the patient's respiratory movement, to give further precision to the radiation treatment and perform tests in sync with the respiratory phases.
The new machine allows pre-treatment checks to be performed using the system "Cone Beam CT4D" very high resolution and real-time imaging during the radiotherapy session that takes into account the internal movement of organs due to breathing (mainly lungs and liver); it is also equipped with a modern "6 degrees of freedom" bed capable of automatically correcting the patient's positioning before each radiotherapy session. "All this makes it possible to verify the correct position of the patient in a millimetric way, visualize the target and hit the tumor in an even more targeted way, thus allowing to further reduce the dose to healthy tissues, make the treatment well tolerated by minimizing the side effects and prescribing increasingly higher doses of therapy with a consequent increase in the success rate of treatments”, explains the prof Sara Ramella, director of the UOC of Radiotherapy oncology.
The True Beam linear accelerator was introduced at the request of the teacher. Lucio Trodella, passed away in May 2021. Director of the UOC of Oncological Radiotherapy since 2005 and coordinator of the Degree Course in Diagnostic Imaging Techniques and Radiotherapy from 2007 to 2016, "He was an irreplaceable teacher and point of reference for all his colleagues, pupils and students and taught everyone that taking care of the patient is just as important as healing him. A doctor and man with great experience and an enlightened vision of the future He always remembered that all possible ways should be tried and in the least invasive way, both from a physical and psychological point of view" concludes Professor Ramella.
The new True Beam linear accelerator fits precisely into this leitmotif of the constant growth of quality and personalization of care at the service of those who rely on the Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital Foundation.
